1
: a dowdy unattractive girl or woman
2
: a staid, drab, old-fashioned person

Examples of frump in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
These examples are automatically compiled from online sources to illustrate current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
June 12, 2024 Katie Holmes is not afraid of putting a little frump in her stride. Daniel Rodgers, Vogue, 12 June 2024 Plus: the horror of the knee-length ‘frump’ length! Nicole Phelps, Vogue, 13 Feb. 2024 Intriguingly, for her latest performance as a great lady from history, playing Israel’s Prime Minister Golda Meir, Mirren has finally opted to go full frump. Leslie Felperin, The Hollywood Reporter, 20 Feb. 2023 Most often, they’re stacked right next to each other, as when Perry’s great sass-mouth frump Madea suddenly plops into the middle of a dramatic scene. Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 12 Sep. 2022 Dear Amy: My 24-year-old gorgeous, loving, and generous daughter dresses like a messy frump! Detroit Free Press, 1 Nov. 2019 Ostensibly a parody of 1950s social mores, the show actually gives us a familiar lineup of high-school cliches: The dimwit jock, the equally dim cheerleader, the frump, the nerds (male and female, each sporting glasses of course) and so on. Matthew J. Palm, OrlandoSentinel.com, 6 Aug. 2017

Word History

Etymology

probably from frumple to wrinkle

First Known Use

1817, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of frump was in 1817

Dictionary Entries Near frump

Cite this Entry

“Frump.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/frump. Accessed 17 Nov. 2024.

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